Music Friday: Incubus

There are only two days left in this week-long set of artists that produced some of my favorite albums -- they just didn't make it into my top 50 for various reasons. Then you wont' be seeing this thing pop up EVERY day anymore :)

Today and tomorrow's artist have one thing in common: It honestly hurt to leave them out of my top 50. I have to once again explain that these are my top 50 favorite cds -- not THE top 50 cds. For whatever reason, the 50 I chose just had a bigger impact on me personally. But Incubus, as a band, has had a pretty big impact and that's why they deserve their own day.

I've kind of come in and out of being a major fan of Brandon Boyd and company. I remember when the video for "Drive" came out, I was amazed. I think, like I did with Paramore, I went out and bought both "Make Yourself" and "Morning View" at the same time. I liked them at first, but didn't really get into it. Then "A Crow Left of the Murder" was released and I got it for my girlfriend at the time, but to this day that is my least favorite Incubus cd. Ironically, it contains my favorite Incubus song, "Sick Sad Little World." Their last studio album to date, "Light Grenades" has been their biggest radio hit, produces like four top singles. It was also one of the first Incubus albums that I liked all the way through and it was after this release that my appreciation grew.

I was in Hastings one day (a movie/music/game/book store) and saw that they had "S.C.I.E.N.C.E." on sale for really cheap so I picked it up. After listening to it, I smacked myself for being out of the loop for so long. (If any Incubus cd were to have made it in the top 50, it would have been that one). It was around this time my brothers started getting heavily into them. Not sure if that was because they started smoking weed as well, dumb kids, but it probably helped.

So after that purchase, I ate up everything I could download. Some of my favorite tracks have been the "bonus" tracks that are either acoustic, live or rare. I saw them live and I developed, what I feel is a very healthy, man crush on Mr. Boyd. I'm glad I got to see them live, because I have heard rumors that they may not be doing this much longer. But they seem to a band that only gets better with age, as a few songs on their "Monuments and Melodies" release showed. I will still look forward to the next release and hopefully (crosses fingers) my next show.

S.C.I.E.N.C.E





Make Yourself





Morning View







A Crow Left of the Murder





Light Grenades





Monuments and Melodies

Music Sunday: Acoustic

So I kind of had a tough time figuring out where to go with my choice this Sunday. I got a (what I think is a) brilliant idea for a Music Sunday -- that will last the entire 2010. More on that later.

But after Alabama's win last night, I have been in a somber mood. Just kidding, but not really. So I will bring you some of my favorite music -- acoustic songs.

I love acoustic songs. There is something about stripping a song down to the bare essentials that is really pleasing. My favorite kinds are when they take really fast songs and slow them down. But songs that show up on albums as just acoustics by themselves are nice too.

I realize that there are MILLIONS of acoustic songs out there. That's why I am only going with five. Enjoy.

Bayside - "Blame It On Bad Luck"



Saosin - "Seven Years"



Incubus - "I Miss You"



Something Corporate - "I Want To Save You"



30 Seconds to Mars - "The Kill"



Now, I will leave you with something much more fun. This picture:

It was after jme gave me an early present for being in her wedding. The vinyl of Taking Back Sunday's latest album. Needless to say, I was pumped (even if this was the third picture we took)

My New Man Crush

Dear Brandon,

You are joining an elite list. You were always one step away from being mentioned with the Depp's and Rock's of this world. But after tonight's concert, you are officially there.

Maybe it was the acoustic performances of Drive, Talk Shows on Mute and Dig. Maybe it was the way you practically made love to the mic. Maybe it was thousands of kids singing your lyrics with you and you stopping and smiling while we said key phrases. Maybe it's because like in the above picture you wore a shirt that said "Make Believe, Not War."

Either way, you killed it tonight. (honestly, it was your bandmates too, so they get a picture below as well). It was good enough to make the ridiculous Atlanta traffic a little more bearable.

Thank you and welcome to the club.

These words pour out when I open my mouth

I feel like all my posts in recent weeks have either been Wordless Wednesdays or links to songs and all that stuff and I KNOW you guys are going "But Mr O, what's been going on with your life?" Even though I just made that up (I don't know what you guys think) here is an actual "post" that the description of my blog talks about.

The other day, I had all these events and thoughts that I was going to put into this but I have forgotten them. So this post is going to be freestyled. Not even I know how it's going to end.

I think I just made a mistake. I made a Coldplay B-side playlist to listen to right now and one of the tracks is piano heavy. So I guess I will start with the deep stuff first. Right now, there are two things dominating my mind. One is a family issue that may or may not happen so therefore won't get talked about right now and the other is next month. It's so crazy to me to think that August will be one year since my girlfriend of three years officially, after three or four semi-breakups, ended our relationship. We were actually still complicated for a while and I guess we didn't officially stop whatever the hell it is we were doing until late January early February. But still, a year since the final break up and my craziness that came afterward. I hate that I was “that guy.” Calling her every day and pleading for a chance to make things right. I hate it not only because of how stalkerish it felt but now I just feel embarrassed for myself. I tried to do everything and for what? It got me nowhere and in man terms just made me look (and feel) like a little bitch. Everytime that I pleaded for her to come and she did everything on her own time. Even now. Since last August, after a weak week attempt at trying school, she has been home ever since, missing what could have been her last year in undergraduate school. Next month, she comes back. Did I mention we started dating a few days before high school graduation and were steady the first three years of college? So I feel like this past year that she left me. Not only on a relationship level, but just being there – in my life. And now she is coming back. I don't know how to react because I have recently finally started to have a life without her. A life where I don't see a sappy movie and think of her. I just know my own emotions and I don't know how they are going to handle her living in the same town again. A few months ago she got into a new relationship so that may explain why there has been no contact. As far as I know, they are still together. For my sanity's sake, I hope they stay together so no temptations will creep in. I've warned all my friends that I may need them in the next month or two now more than ever.

Speaking of friends, I am getting to the point where I am starting to consider some of my blogger followers and people I follow “friends” as well. We may never actually see each other, but I have connected with some of you more than some people that call themselves my friend. With that said, I'm warning all you guys as well – I may need to come to you guys in the next month or two, haha. Even if it's just you clicking on a blog title.

And let's try to lighten this up a little. I am really appreciating all the nice comments whenever I do a music post like Under My Covers. Especially the ones who say they are hearing it for the first time, it just makes me smile because that is my mission. But I feel music is like Christmas – it's great to give and receive. I will never walk around like I know all music because that's impossible. So as much as I love to put music out there, I love to receive it even more. In the past week I have listened to cd's that I got by winning jeanette's blog contest and have found a few new gems, youtubed this nice acoustic version of "Let Go" after a couple of comments from the Garden State version of Under My Covers and stayed on Melissa's post for an hour clicking play repeatedly listening to jazz. And that's another thing. I am mostly an alternative rock kind of guy, but I really do listen to everything. “Make Her Say” by Kid Cudi, Kanye West and Common is one of my favorite tracks right now. And just planned – in October I will be going to my second drum and bass show. That combined with the Incubus show in August and a *possible* Blink-182 show in September and these next few months are looking nice.

Speaking of shows, I finally got confirmation and on Tuesday I will be sweating my ass off in Atlanta while attending Warped Tour. Last year, there were two bands I HAD to see – Pierce the Veil and Gym Class Heroes. I saw GCH twice, a regular set and then an acoustic set in the afternoon, and PTV stole the show. This year, I don't have that one single band I want to see but I will definitely be looking out for a few. And since I will probably be stoked coming from the show, I will talk more about the bands in a later post.

Movie wise the past two few days have been interesting. On Friday, I was hanging out with J Beezy when a friend of hers asked her to go see The Ugly Truth. She pretty much told me I was coming along to make the thing better and Hedman ended up coming with us. What was really crazy was that the point of going was to go with the friend of hers, but we didn't even sit with them. Hedman and I were complaining at the beginning (let me stop right there – I don't want to make it seem like I hate romantic comedies. They are actually a guilty pleasure. But this movie just did not look good to me) and we laughed pretty hard at the idea of walking out in the first 30 seconds. But we stayed – and laughed. Jeannette doesn't feel the same way, haha, but it was much better than I expected. I am still waiting for Katherine Heigl to come out and bash the movie now.

But then last night we FINALLY saw Ice Age 3 in 3D and it was pretty much awesome. Those little squirrels – they get me everytime. And I think after this and Up, I am starting to dig these 3D movies. But the best 3D movie of all hasn't even come out yet. But it will be here March 5, 2010. I think I have watched the trailer like five times already. If you haven't yet, it's in my very important date to the upper left of this post.

If you have read this far, you are awesome. But the other small thing that has been stressing me out is taking over and I feel like this is coming to a close because of it. I have class in the morning and we only have a week left. It's a photojournalism class, so it's not that hard but all the assignments finally got dates and they are all due in the next week. In the past few days I have gotten most of them done, but I tried to do one today that didn't come out so well. I am hoping the teacher has got some advice for me or else i'm screwed. But off to sleep to be prepared for that.

Oh, and sorry that no house party happened this weekend. But hopefully your night is free tomorrow. I'm making waffles :)

Random lyric of the day:

Mmmm whatcha say,
Mmm that you only meant well?
well of course you did
Mmmm whatcha say,
Mmmm that it's all for the best?
of course it is
Mmmm whatcha say?
Mmmm that it's just what we need
you decided this
whatcha say?

Changes, Questions, New Things, & Disappointment

So a major change is taking place in my life right now. A third roommate is moving in. For the past two years, it has been my best friend of nearly 12 years, myself, and his sister. However, his sister moved home around December of 2008. But even before that, she was barely here. So basically, for the last two years, it has been him and I. And we held it down. Never any drama. In fact, he helped me through a lot. The break up between myself and my girlfriend of just over three years, the divorce of my dad and stepmom, his first ever real relationship, it kind of goes on and on. We got into new shows together like The Office and Scrubs. However, this is starting to sound like we are splitting up, but we're not. The point I think i'm trying to make is it is easier to have that connection when it is just two people. I just don't know how a third roommate is going to work out. I mean, I have been friends with him for a few years, he isn't a stranger, but still. I just worry. It's what I do. Like we joked around the other day when we split a six dollar pizza together. They slice it up into ten pieces. We were like "what are we going to do with three people?" Haha

I had a text conversation the other day that went something like this:

Her: "Hey, I know you probably have plans, but we are having a 4th of July BBQ at my dad's if you want to come."

Me: "On the actual day, cuz I will probably be in Crestview"

Her: "Yea... I figured you would be..."

Those lil dot dot dots, it made me sit there and think. My greatest fault is that I over analyze way too much. And she got to me. Do I visit Crestview way too much? (For those new to the game, Crestview is where my sister and brother in law live). I asked a friend of mine today and he was like "who cares?" I guess that is the approach I take, but it just bothers me a little bit. I don't know why...

So some new things I am going to try out with this blog: Wordless Wednesdays and Flashback Friday. I have seen WW before, so I am pretty sure I get the concept. I only saw something about a FF on lovelila's word press account. Now, I don't know if this is an actual thing, or it's just something she does, but either way, I'm taking it, haha. I just found my old livejournal, so it should be fun.

And finally... I saw Transformers. I have to say, I was dissapointed. (now the blog title should make sense). If you haven't seen the movie, stop reading now as I will probably go into detail. I have only walked out of one movie in my entire life -- The Spirit -- but when Sam got up in the classroom and was making those weird noises and stuff, I swear I was ready to get up. The story was kind of all over the place, I had no idea who the characters were at times, and the cheesiness that worked in the first movie, in my humble opinion, was overplayed in this one. Maybe i am getting old (at 22, I sure hope not), but when a robot called a dude a pussy and the 5 and 6 year olds next to me were cracking up, I just felt slightly uncomfortable. I read a lot of stuff where Micheal Bay just blows stuff up, like that is what his whole movie is about. And they are right, there was stuff exploding in this movie for no reason. We were laughing, cuz at one point it looked like he had recycled footage from Pearl Harbor, another movie of his. And don't get me started on Megan Fox. As hot as she is, she was lame in this movie. And this is going to sound really weird coming from a guy, but when she smiled, she looked ugly haha. I don't know, maybe I just liked the bad ass chick from the first one, and not the "say you love me" from the second one. My last gripes are this: during the last battle scene, I was honestly confused -- I didn't know who were good guys and who were bad guys. And if Optimus Prime would have stayed dead, that would have been awesome. But as my friend pointed out, they took the "cookie cutter" route. Now, reading all that, you would think I hated that movie, but not really. I was just dissapointed after watching the first one. That's all

Edit: Actually that's not all, haha. I am a HUGE fan of The Office, and it sucked to me that Rainn Wilson was only in that movie for two minutes. And I am also a huge fan of the music and movie connection and I have to say it irritated me to hear "21 Guns" by Green Day played THREE TIMES! I like the song, but they could have played something different. Teasing the Linkin Park song was cool, but they killed Green Day by playing it a FOURTH time during the credits. Just my two cents.

I saw a trailer before the movie that I had seen before, but I find it funnier now. I realize it sounds weird to say you "know" somebody through blogging, but what the hell, I feel like I sorta "know" someone from Australia. It intrigues to learn about the music (shoutouts to Wolfmother) and the different langauge. Anyways, I feel little chuckles now when I see the trailer for Funny People and Seth Rogen "He is going to kill us, they are from Australia, that's what they do, they kill things there!" So I ask you, girl, is that what they do there? Haha, see for yourself:



Random lyric of the day:

Meet me in outerspace
We could spend the night, watch the earth come up
I've grown tired of that place, wont you come with me
We could start again

Just like old times

Tonight was a good night. Well, come to think of it, last night was good too. I just don't have the pictures so I can't show it off. Oh well, i will try my best to give a visual. For chronological sake, let's start with yesterday.

It was my roommate's birthday. Little trivia about my roommate... he's basically my p.i.c. We have been friends since 4th or 5th grade, but we tell everybody it's been about 27 years. If you have ever seen the show Scrubs, look at Turk and JD and that is pretty much us. I am JD, the more emotional one. He just kinda goes along with most stuff. We have been roommates since our first year in college (August will start year 5) and the thought of the day we separate (he will graduate in the spring, myself in the summer) is a sad thought to say the least. If you saw the FINAL episode of Scrubs, it basically revolved around JD leaving the hospital. I told him how it was going to suck when that day came for us. Well, enough of the background. We both have a pretty random sense of humor, so here is how his birthday went down. We put up a banner in the hallway that had "16" dangling from it (signaling a sweet 16, even though he turned 22) and we got him a pinata. The pinata was a 100 dollar bill that we filled with paper money, fake coins, and skittles. So when he finally busted it (edit: we tore it open) it literally rained skittles. Pretty awesome. Add in the fact our friend from Troy came up and our other friend from down the street made him a cake, THEN toss in a dinner at CiCi's and a good Rock Band session, and you had a good night.

Now, on to tonight. For all these people coming into my little corner of the blogosphere (especially those in the music group), one thing to know about me is that I am a dj at a campus radio station. That is not me saying "know this about me because I am cooler than you," rather "know this about me because I will probably talk about it -- a lot." But tonight was my first trip in the studio since April, and it felt good. I mostly played the new Taking Back Sunday cd, but I threw in some other bands like Incubus, Anberlin and The Sounds. No one could call in cuz the phones were down so I don't know if anybody was listening, but an old friend from high school named Leah (for you jme, cuz i know you would ask who it was if I left it vague) tuned in after we got to chatting on myspace's new chat feature. After I gave her a shoutout, she referred to me in her status as "THE COOLEST PERSON ALIVE!!!" I think I will end this post on that note...

Random lyric of the day:

Oh, there ain't no rest for the wicked,
Money don't grow on trees.
I got bills to pay,
I got mouths to feed,
There ain't nothing in this world for free.
I know I can't slow down,
I can't hold back,
Though you know, I wish I could.
No there ain't no rest for the wicked,
Until we close our eyes for good

Maybe. Maybe Not.

Today was my last official day of class. Turned in my second ten page paper of the semester and then went to class to get my paper back (made a B+ on, so that's good). Said goodbye to a friend I will probably never see again, considering we will not have to show up for that final and she is interning in the summer and done. It was cool having her in this class though.

And then, that was it. Final on Friday, Monday, and Tuesday. Then I am finished. For two whole weeks. In which Frisco and I will be driving cross country. Looked at rental cars today though, so now we at least have some kind of idea.

So in my last blog, I mentioned that I saw the trailer to Slumdog Millionaire and became interested. Well, the next day I rented it. My verdict: I liked it. I actually said out lout at one point "this is deep."

Hung out with Amy, the girl I "met" on myspace. It has been two good visits, but I don't really know where to go with her. It's fun hanging out with her, but we are two single people. I almost don't know how to act. Should we be doing more than being friends? Or should we be happy that we have friends? That second one sounded kinda lame. I'm just not used to this situation. Usually, I don't mind meeting new girls because I had a girlfriend, so there was never any of that "is he just trying to get with me" tension, because I never was.

Oh well, maybe a trip to Montgomery on Friday to see Wolverine. Maybe not. Maybe deal with this Matt Walker situation on Thursday. Maybe not.

Random lyric of the day:

You’re a mountain that I’d like to climb
Not to conquer, but to share in the view

Hey, Where did my 60 bucks go?

Bare with me for a second... Wrestlemania came and went. There was ONE match that was great out of about nine or ten. However, it will be one of the greatest of the year and it's only April. Don't know if that's a good sign or not. But for what I paid for it, you can say I'm pretty disappointed.

We are going to have to call it on Resident Evil 5. It's a sad sad day. We are going to have to spend another six dollars just to beat two and a half levels. But the damn week has started again. Does anyone else go through that feeling where you wait and wait for the weekend to get here and you blink your eyes and you have to wake up for another Monday morning? Or is it just me...

I've been listening to a lot of Motion City Soundtrack lately. I think they are another band that I am getting into too late. On a music related topic, there are three bands who I have not yet seen live but need to. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Linkin Park, and Incubus. Browsing around myspace the other day and noticed that Incubus is coming to Atlanta in August. This makes me happy. Kinda conflicted about Warped Tour though. There are a bunch of good bands that are going to be there (Saosin, Bayside, Underoath) but I really have no one to go with, no one who is really into all that. If Hedman happens to be here, maybe we will go. Who knows.

What I have to look forward to this week:
*stupid monday night class
*test on thursday
*first part of crucial paper due on thursday
*TWO new episodes of The Office on thursday :)
*Radio show. I will be highlighting Panic! At The Disco (yes, with the !) and The Academy Is... this week.
*Jme's arrival

So, let's get some sleep to prepare for it

Random lyric of the day:

Say hello to good times
Trade up for the fast ride
We close our eyes while the nickel and dime take the streets
completely